An A-Z reflection of 2022
How I feel going into 2023…
And just like that, we've reached the end of another year... Those close to me know that typically on public holidays, I use my time to reflect and write how I am feeling. Christmas is an appropriate time for this.
As cliché as it sounds, it felt like yesterday when I was sitting down to write my reflection on 2021. I’m often reminded of that Einstein quote:
“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it's only a minute. But when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it's two hours. That's relativity.”
Everything is relative.
Those who’ve followed me for a while will know I wrote a similar post almost 1 year ago here. I decided this year to follow the same framework of thinking about an event this past year for each letter of the alphabet from A-Z. I’ll come up with something different for 2023.
Where possible, I’ll make reference to external links, images, videos, etc for each of the letters that I go through! Let's go!
🙏 Here are the memorable moments I recall for each letter of the alphabet over this calendar year 2022.
Atlas Academia
The social education enterprise continues to impress me over the last ~15 months that I've had the pleasure to know them, and they are absolutely deserving to be mentioned at the top of my reflection for 2022.
When I first met the co-founders (Anthony, Wayne, and Jeff), there were only ~40 students, and now they have ~100 students today. They've come a long way and I've seen it first-hand. A lot of people don't know the struggles they've had to overcome, but I got a window into that when I was donating to them and providing advice where I could in the early days.
The co-founders (Wayne and Anthony, pictured left to right in the picture below on a Sunday afternoon) are only early 20s in age (including Jeffrey, but he's usually not here on Sundays), and are absolute hustlers with an aggressive, but flexible and open-minded mentality, that all come with different skill sets. That's something I admire in all 3 of the co-founders.
Increasingly, I find myself enjoying their company and spending more and more time at their office on the weekends... I get inspired by them.
I hope to be more involved with Atlas next year and cannot wait to share some of my updates on the journey with them. Definitely some exciting news in the pipeline. If there's anybody you know in yr 9-12 currently, make sure to tell them about Atlas Academia (see here) if this speel resonated with you!
Business Society at North Sydney Boys High School (i.e. BSOC NSBHS)
Thanks to a random encounter of me reading about this club that started in my old high school's magazine at the beginning of the year, and me reaching out to the former execs (want to shout out Aiken, Nathan, and Kevin specifically), and now becoming their 1st industry sponsor and mentor by the end of the year, has made this society deserving of the 2nd spot on this list (and neatly still fits my alphabet order).
I want to thank the current execs (Naman, Asher and Minh), for continuing to engage with me regularly, and keeping me updated on their plans for 2023 with regard to growing the member base of NSB BSOC.
I continue to sponsor them financially, and look forward to seeing more events being run (eg internal stock pitch competition, commerce 101 classes for junior students, internal stock market game, NSBG business trivia, etc to just name a few of the potential opportunities for the members of NSB BSOC into 2023). I'm really excited about them.
Below is a picture of me with the former execs after the finals of the Woolworths case competition back in August 2022. I want to thank William (on my right, the former president of UNSW BSOC) for giving up his time to judge with me. I was very impressed by the calibre of the pitches at that competition when considering they were virtually all just year 10 students. You can support them here.
Compassion
I decided to sponsor a kid in Indonesia - I thank a close friend that meant a lot to me in the past, for making me consider it in the 1st place and inspiring me to do this. This remains an annual commitment.
I was also doubly convicted when I heard a close friend I met recently share about how she volunteered there in Indonesia.
Designation from the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (i.e. CFAI)
It all started with my mentor suggesting to me to attempt the CFA exams back in September 2017. I did not realise it would virtually consume a big chunk of the next 3 years of my life, whilst trying to balance full-time work. There were definitely chunky times and periods of doubt within myself on this journey.
In total, I probably studied ~1000 hours for the 3 levels of exams.
But now in hindsight, I would've done it all over again, and I did genuinely try to learn most of the material properly from an effort perspective and don't think I tried to "half-ass" it. I think that's the secret to studying for the CFA exams. I expressed some of my thoughts on how I prepared for the CFA L1 (here) and L2 exams (here) in prior blogs.
Again, I have to thank my parents for their support, supporting me whilst I was working/studying at the same time. I didn’t always have the best mood in the morning after studying, but my parents have been patient and forgiving to me despite my weaknesses. I am trying to get better at this.
Everyone's a Theologian by the late RC Sproul (rest in peace)
That was the core book we used in the Systematic Theology class run by my pastor at MBC.
I learnt to appreciate and sympathise with how different theologians during different church eras wrestled with the Bible. I was initially unsure about doing this workshop but looking back now, I am so thankful.
At the end of the workshops, my final assignment was to apply a "systematic theology" framework to wrestle with a topic in the Bible. I was given "what do we need to know about angels and demons". Needless to say it was an interesting exploration for me. I would love to spend more time on this in future. I used to be quite dismissive towards anything that was "spiritual" but doing this assignment definitely changed my mind for the better towards this topic.
Direct message me if you want a copy of my assignment. It's not perfect, but there are some decently fleshed-out thoughts on this matter of angels and demons.
The "Dunning-Kruger" lifecycle is a great chart for showing my journey with Biblical theology, and how at the beginning, I was fairly "ignorant" of what I thought I knew about theology. It was only after the workshop run did I think I have become more "cultured". But hopefully walking slowly towards the goal of becoming an "expert" sometime long into the future. I'm a long way there, but I think the below chart is a great visualiser for where I am in my journey to understanding biblical theology better.
Foundation of Goodness (i.e. FOG)
It has been an incredibly tough year for Sri Lanka in economic and political turmoil. I was close to crying when I heard about the stories back in July 2022 from my contacts at the FOG, the charity that I volunteered back in July 2016.
Food and energy inflation had led to lots of families starving and having to ration their basic necessities to survive.
From their November 2022 newsletter, I have been pleased to hear on the progress of feeding disadvantaged people in Sri Lanka (now delivering >55k food packs since COVID started in March 2020), with the FOG. There is always more work to do, but I am encouraged these organisations continue to try their best to feed the hungry. I continue to donate annually to FOG.
If you'd like to donate, the link is here.
Growth group at Macquarie Baptist Church (i.e. MBC)
Continue to appreciate my fellow brothers and sisters in this close knit growth group. We have ~10-12 regular members and I am very thankful for all of them.
This picture below was from our end of year Xmas dinner, and I am so grateful for all my brothers and sister in Christ. This one posing on the right with me is David. You may recall if you follow my monthly newsletters, he was featured in my June 2022 writing here.
Never did I expect the opportunity from knowing a member of my growth group, would provide the opportunity to speak at Chatswood High School on a topic I am passionate about (ahem... Investing). I'm a big believer as such of "manufactured serendipity" (a friend, Ajay from the Careers Wiki described it like so). I've been led to believe that being open to meeting/knowing more people increases the surface area of opportunities potentially available.
There's a really good video I watched recently about an evidence-based approach to becoming more "lucky" that talks about this idea here from Ali Abdaal.
Heading the Investment Team at MBC
I want to thank Sherry (MBC's treasurer) for approaching me more than a year ago to ask me about my consideration in this role. It was unique and novel at the time, but I'm so pleased with the progress that our team has gone through with stewarding the church's capital.
I continue to look for opportunities to use my skills to serve others where I can.
I have been incredibly encouraged to serve with my fellow brothers & sisters voluntarily in this role and learn from all the members of the team at my local church.
Below is just a picture (thanks Simarta for taking this picture) of me being given the opportunity to run a personal finance workshop at my own church earlier in the year, and gives a sense of our thinking as a church behind finances in relation to what the Bible has to say about how we give/save/spend/invest our money.
If you'd like a copy of my workshop notes, please direct message me.
Investing 4 Charity UNSW (i.e. I4C UNSW)
I've now been involved with UNSW I4C for 5+ years and it's been an incredible privilege to see the society evolve from my times to where it is now today - I'm just jaw dropped at the amount of effort that students over the years have poured into the society to bring it to where it is today.
I got so emotional, I even documented that journey of UNSW I4C over the last ~5 years from my perspective here as a separate blog. The idea of an individual donating to a university society was very novel/weird at the time. But we now have several individual sponsors to I4C UNSW. I want to thank Jackson and William for getting on board with me on this.
Something I was taught by my mentor Albert, was giving back matters. I hope I can encourage graduated university students to give back to their societies that have made an impact on them. It doesn't have to be I4C UNSW...
I'm a believer that so long as one person begins to give back, it will hopefully inspire others to eventually do the same, and soon we can have a domino effect of giving back engrained in all of us.
Japan trip
For those who didn't know I flew to Japan as part of a 10 day tour that my mum found (because it was cheap, she has an incredible eye for "value" investing) back in the middle of October 2022. This would be my 2nd time going back, after my 1sty time almost ~15 years ago.
I am really glad I did this. I got to see Universal Studios Japan, Tokyo Disneyland, Mt Fuji, Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo, and some other smaller villages too. I loved seeing how the Japanese people differed culturally from Australians. I learnt a lot, and I documented some of the interesting contrasts which I explored in my October 2022 newsletter here in more detail.
I am going to restrain myself from posting any more pictures about this, since you can see it from my newsletter linked above…
Katoomba trips (I went twice this year!)
Once for a personal holiday, and another for the Reachout conference (and that was how I found the opportunity at SUNSW, reinforcing my view on manufactured serendipity).
Katoomba was meaningful to me because it was my 1st time going on a solo holiday by myself and driving alone. I got a lot of time to reflect on my mistakes and learn to reframe mistakes as learning opportunities and know how to move on from them. It was a good meditation time for me.
Letting go of a student (not a goodbye though!)
Stepping back from my duty as a tutor/mentor to X (let's call him X), as he has grown up. This was one of the most difficult moments for me, as I witnessed his growth back in year 7 to now year 11 as a private tutor. It had been such a long journey.
I will be honest to say, I was initially shocked by his decision but I am slowly becoming more sympathetic to his perspective. I hope to continue to maintain dialogue with him on a less frequent basis now. It has been good, and I am so proud he managed to find casual work recently even though he’s not attending school anymore.
Mentors / mentees
Those who know me well, know the journey with Albert was what started my belief in encouraging others to have mentors. I actually do not know where I would be if it wasn't for him. Bless God for allowing our paths to cross.
I've been incredibly grateful to remain with my 1st mentor, Albert, ever since crossing paths back in September 2017, and I cannot believe it has already been >5 years.
He along with my other mentors (Joey, James, and Tim) continue to provide guidance to me in many different areas of my life (from family, career, relationships, faith, etc). All have their different strengths which I respect, and I continue to be humbled and reminded to continue to learn from them. They've been instrumental to many of the "big decisions" I've made in the last 5 years.
I've also continued to have opportunities to mentor other individuals.
NSB dinners
I've been incredibly thankful for the high school reunion dinners I still have with close friends. As time increasingly becomes a more scarce commodity, I've been thankful that many of us continue to recognise the importance of catching up and meeting up, even when we're time-poor.
This is only something I've started to appreciate more as I round up to my 30s (and cannot round down to my 20s anymore).
Below is just 1 snapshot in time, of us NSBs continuing to catch up. I continue to hope for more despite our individual paths drifting further away.
Obi Wan Kenobi TV show on Disney+
I am all for Ewan Mcgregor (I remember him from the old film, Moulin Rouge, with Nicole Kidman) and that finale episode really sealed the deal for me. The fight between Obi Wan and Darth Vader was memorable. I re-watched the duel like 30 times. I want to share my analysis LOL... Prepare to be geeked out.
If you're a fan of Star Wars like me, you would have noticed from that duel that Obi Wan was "the master" of "soresu", which is a form 3 fighting stance that is notorious for defence and tiring out the opponent.
However, the sheer power of Darth Vader (and having learnt from his mistake on the battle against Obi Wan was on Mustafar) would have tired Obi Wan out early game.
So Obi Wan switched to an aggressive fighting form 4 called "ataru" as the fight progressed and it was clear that Vader was caught off guard by his original teacher switching up his lightsabre fighting style.
Also more attentive Star Wars fans will notice that Vader is holding his lightsabre with 2 hands... And he rarely does that with anybody he fights... It tells you how tense/anxious he feels towards Obi Wan, and that he's somebody you cannot mess with.
That duel was important to me, because it reminded me how one has to be flexible depending on the circumstance, and not simply stick to ways of old, just because they work. I explored that in depth in my July 2022 newsletter here. That got so deep so quickly with Star Wars…
Prom Praise concert with close friends
Great concert in Sydney's Town Hall. Say no more. I would encourage people to go to next year's!
Quiet times on walks
This was almost a "daily ritual" I did during my days when I was working and studying for my CFA exams at the same time. And maybe embarrassingly, the only comfort I really had at the time was these quiet times on walks
I target a daily average of >10,000 steps (on a trailing 1 month and 6 month basis), but from the below Health app picture, it's clear I still have work to do... That said, I am optimistic in the upward trend of my daily average, especially over the last 1-2 months. I still have a lot of work to do. My colleagues would call this a "bottom left to top right" I hope.
That big spike near the middle was mid October, during my Japan trip so that was an outlier.
Recalibrate in Jindabyne!
City Bible Forum's annual trip to Jindabyne is called "Recalibrate" for the young workers.
This year was my 1st time in Jindabyne. Incidentally, though, I was meant to go to Jindabyne a long time ago in 2013 (back when I was in year 11 at North Sydney Boys for a ski trip) but I had a wedding to attend at the time...
Below is a photo taken from Jindabyne of the members who went. It was a wholesome lunch, and we had members both from Sydney and Melbourne! I loved getting to know the other attendees more during that Australia Day week in a setting that was outside the office.
Sydney Science College
A tough year dealing with labour/material inflation, consumer discretionary weakness, and rising cost of capital. We've also just reported our 1st cohort of year 12 students who sat their HSC exams and represented SSC for the very first time.
This is public (here), but for full transparency, we ended the year with 9 students sitting their HSC exams in 2022, and on ~45 unique exams sat, we reported 10 band 6s (i.e. subject score of = or > 90/100) , giving us a band 6 % penetration of ~22%. This puts our school in rank ~60. Personally, I want this to be higher (my base case target is definitely top 10, and remains that way).
For those who may not know, in the Sydney Morning Herald school rankings, you need >150 unique exams sat in a school to be counted towards the rankings.
SSC is still far away from being counted, but I continue to remain stubborn in my optimism with SSC.
Below is just one of my pictures with one of the co-principals, Joey. It's hard to imagine these being "business meetings" but that's often how we do these updates (typically over Japanese food!).
Top Gun Maverick
The best movie in 2022. Even I contemplated for a few seconds about getting a moustache and enlisting as a pilot in the navy... This dog fight scene sold me here if you’re interested.
University speaking opportunities (I just want to give a shout out to a few below)
Australian Student Asset Management (ASAM)
UNSW Investing 4 Charity
UTS accounting show (with Dr Amanda White)
UNSW accounting industry panel (with Dr Victoria Clout - video here, and snapshot below)
Scripture Union NSW (i.e. SUNSW)
Until my 2nd trip to Katoomba for the Reachout conference with my church, I did not know about Scripture Union NSW. But the funny thing is, they've been around me operating in the Christian groups at the schools I attended.
It was that fateful trip that gave me the opportunity to meet their Director, Ian. I was inspired by the turnaround and future vision he has for SUNSW, and I wanted to support his organisation with my skills.
Upon some discussions, he saw a role for me as the voluntary head of the fundraising/investment team which started just a few months ago. I'm thankful for the opportunity to work closely with him next year, as we wrestle with how to steward the capital wisely for the interests of SUNSW.
Incidentally, I will also be visiting Lake Conjola on 2-3 Jan 2023 to see what beach mission (another area with SUNSW is involved with) is like with my mum's church and to get a better understanding of the kind of work that SUNSW does in partnership with all these different churches. During this beach mission season, there will be ~25 teams and ~1000 volunteers!
Wedding season musings
This year I was blessed to be invited to 4 different weddings. I think I am starting to reach that age where people are getting married (thanks, captain obvious...). Just want to speak about some reflections from a few of those weddings below.
I got to be a groomsman for the 1st time, and was so happy for the opportunity that my friend, James gave me. He was a friend I didn't expect I'd be close if you told me 7 years ago (since we weren't that close in high school), but I'm so glad we ended up together. I am also thankful for Jack and Luke. We call ourselves the "Vivid Lads" (one of my favourite pictures below), aptly named for that one time James suggested we go watch Vivid together back in 2016.
With the history of knowing Sally for so long, I could only cry happy tears when I saw her get married. She is somebody I had known since 2012, and she taught me a lot about humility and perseverance over the years. She remains the first friend I banter with when I want to complain about Australia's central bank actions...
And I cannot describe how happy I was for Gerald when he got married, who has been and always will be a fun and goofy Campus Bible Study and City Bible Forum friend. He reminds me to not take life so seriously.
X?
I used Xbox in the past. But I have no new ideas for X. Maybe this is the signal to tell me I need to move onto a different way of doing these year end reflections now...
Yahoo mail finally gone! Say hello to gmail!
A lot of people are surprised when I tell them I still use Yahoo mail. It just took ~15 years for me to finally make that decision to change personal emails properly from yahoo to gmail...
ZIRP no more?
ZIRP stands for "zero interest rate policy". And this comment is very timely, as this year has been one of the biggest "sea changes" (used the phrasing from Howard Marks in his latest memo here) I've ever witnessed from a work capacity since starting at Antipodes in 2019, driven by higher inflation and slower economic growth.
For the longest time that I could remember when I started investing in late 2016 (because I wanted to take advantage of the broad irrational mispricing of stocks after Donald Trump got elected as US president in November 2016, as people overlooked the fact he was going to cut corporate tax rates from 35% to 21% and lift US earnings immediately near term), the world was broadly suffering the low economic and inflation growth, triggering a "lower rate" for longer world by central banks across the world (or some would say "zero rate" world).
However, Warren Buffet wisely said this in his Annual General Meeting at Berkshire Hathaway back in 1994:
“The value of every business, the value of a farm, the value of an apartment house, the value of any economic asset, is 100% sensitive to interest rates because all you are doing in investing is transferring some money to somebody now in exchange for what you expect the stream of money to be, to come in over a period of time, and the higher interest rates are the less that present value is going to be. So every business by its nature… its intrinsic valuation is 100% sensitive to interest rates.”
He also once said in a more summary form:
“Interest rates are to asset prices what gravity is to the apple. When there are low interest rates, there is a very low gravitational pull on asset prices.”
Unless you've been living under a rock the last 12 months, you would know stock market indices around the world broadly have declined quite materially. Whether Australia, US, China, UK, etc. There weren't many places to hide.
Of course, I do not want to go into specifics, as this is a personal blog (and not a work one), but I do want to say that I have been incredibly humbled about how things can go up and down very rapidly. With this humbling experience, I have been reminded to listen more, and talk less. The last ~3 years especially have felt like ~9 years to me in the stock markets...
I am again reminded of this slide by Krainos Capital (see below), where this pyramid implies that comprehension is a skill almost anyone can master, but critical judgment is where so few are great at. Not just for the investing world, but more broadly in life, I know I sometimes confuse knowledge mistakenly for understanding. Food for thought...
❤️ If you lasted to the end of this blog (and did not fall asleep yet), thank you so much. This will be the last time I do the A-Z format for a while. Want to use a different format next year to reflect on 2023! Stay tuned.
Given some new commitments that are coming on next year into 2023, I will be cutting a few things I am involved with in the next few months and making some re-prioritisations. One of which is my monthly newsletters will now be moving to a quarterly newsletter update (unless things change). I hope my readers understand, given my other more important commitments to roles/certain people that are now evolving in my life as I go into 2023. I hope you all understand.
For any readers who want to reach out to me, please do! I love getting feedback and hearing other people's stories. I also just love an excuse to drink coffee... 😀
Wishing everybody a Merry Xmas 🎄 and a happy 2023 🙌,
Michael Li
